Wire-stretcher.



J. A. MITCHELL.

WIRE STRETCHER.

APPLICATION man SEPT. 9.1915.

Patented July 11, 1916.

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WIRE STRETCHER.

APPLICATION FILED sEPT.9.1915.

Patenmd July 11,1916.

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JAMES A. MITCHELL, OF MAGNOLIA, ARKANSAS.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11, 1916.

Application led September 9, 1915. Serial No. 49,809.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Magnolia, in the county of Columbia and State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire- Stretchers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same..

This invention relates to improvements in wire stretchers and has for its object to provide a comparatively simply constructed device which may be very cheaply manufactured.

Another object is to provide a device of this character having a carriage on which is mounteda pair of anti-friction rollers, the stretcher bar being designed to run on these rollers.

With the above and minor objects in View, my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will hereinafter be more particularly described and claimed and shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of this improved wire stretcher in operation; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the plane of line 2 2 of Fig. 3 Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are vertical transverse sections on the lines 3 3, 4-4 and 5 5 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a detail transverse section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment illustrated, I have shown my wire stretcher 1 connected by one end to a post or other stationary object P by the chain 2 which has a hook 3 on one end designed to catch a suitable clevis 4 on the wire stretcher. The opposite end of the stretcher is connected by any preferred means to a suitable wire clamp 5.

The wire stretcher comprises broadly a carriage on which is slidably mounted a stretcher bar 6. rIhis carriage is preferably formed of a pair of U-shaped bars 7 and 8 to the outer sides of which are secured the plates 9 and 10, said stretcher bar being designed to pass between the upright arms 12 of the U-shaped members 7 and 8 and to slide on the anti-friction rollers 11 pivoted between the said arms 12 of the U-shaped members as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The rollers 11 are mounted on the pivot bolt 13 which pass through the arms 12 and through the plates 9 and 10 and are designed to receive on their threaded ends the nuts 14. The upper portions of the plates 9 and l0l are held to the members t and 8 by bolts 15 and 16 passing transversely therethrough, the outer ends of said bolts being provided with nuts. The bolts 15 and 16 also pass through the arms 17 of the clevis 4 and secure said clevis to the carriage.

` A gravity catch 18 is pivoted on the bolt 15 and is designed to coact with the ratchet teeth 19 formed on the upper edge of the stretcher bar 6 and to hold said bar in operative position. An additional gravity catch or dog 2O is pivoted between the arms 21 of thebifurcated operating lever 22, said lever being pivoted in the carriage between the plates 9 and 10 thereof by the bolt 23. This catch 20 may be termed for the sake of convenience, the operating or actuating catch, while the catch 18 may be termed the retain-- ing catch. The active end 24 of the dog 20 is also designed to coact with the ratchet teeth 19 on the bar 6. The outer end of this stretcher bar 6 is preferably provided with a clevis 25 adapted to receive a hook 26 formed on the chain 27 which connects the wire clamp 5 to the wire stretcher 1.

In operation, the wire stretcher is connected with the wire fence, as shown in Fig. 1. The catches 1S and 20 are raised and the stretcher bar moved toward the post P as far as possible, the catches being then released to prevent the bar 6 from being moved to its former position by the tension of the wire fence. The fence is now ready to be stretched which can be readily accomplished by moving the lever 22 from its position as shown in Fig. 1, toward the post P which will cause the active end 24 of the actuating catch 20 to move the bar 6 in a direction to stretch the fence, the active end of the retaining catch sliding over the ratchet teeth 19 until the movement of the lever 20 is stopped, when said retaining catch will coact with the teeth 19 to retain the bar 6 in its extended position. The lever is then moved toward the fence which will cause the active end 24 of the actuating catch 20 to slip over the teeth 19, then the lever can be moved toward the post I and the stretching operation repeated. These movements of the lever 22 may be repeated until the fence has been stretched a suiiicient extent.

While any preferred form of wire clamp may be used. I preferably employ that illus connection with Vthe ,accompanying VAdrawtrated in Figs. l and 6, which comprises an upright post 28 having the flat plates Q9 and 30 inset in its opposite sides. A plurality of openings are arranged througlrthese plates and the member 28 to provide for the tightening these nuts 38 on the threaded endsof the bolts 31, that the strands of the' wire fencing will` be tightly clalnped beneath saidTfshaped heads 32. c, a

Fromthe foregoing description-taken in ings, itgis obvious that Ihave produced a veryi simply constructed lwire stretcher which will ,be found to be extremely 'efficient in operation. A

Iclaim: Y, v

In awire stretcher, a carriage comprising *.a pairof spacedY apart U-shaped bars, spac- -ing blocksbetween the free ends of said bars and riveted thereto, a flat plate on the outer face of each pair of bars, a pivot boltA ex- Y tending through each Aofsaid bars adjacent the'bottom thereof and throughfsaid plajtes to secure the same in place, an Vanti-friction roller on each of said bolts between the arms of the bars, a clevis, the arms thereof extending across said plates adjacent their upper edges, a ratchet bar slidable on said rollers between the same and said spacing blocks, a pivot bolt extending through the upper end of oneof said U-shaped bars and through said plates and the ends of the clevis arms, a retaining gravity catch on said last mentionedpivot ,bolt between the arms of the U-shaped bar, said catch cooperating with the ratchet teeth, an additionaldbolt vextending through the intermediate portions ofthe arms of said clevis and through said plates to secure the same together, forked operating lever, the fork thereof being pivoted intermediate its ends on gsad lastmentioned bolt between said plates, an actuating gravity catch pivoted to saidlever between the arms of the fork and belowits fulcrum, and a clevis on one end of the ratchet bar.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses. g

. c JAMES A. MITCHELL. IVitnesses:

ROBERT C. MCDANIEL, l WILEY J. HARRINGTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five `cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C, 

